Sour grapes. You're funny. Sure, I admit I could be wrong, but I've never even heard of those interpretations. It was dark outside when I was born, but it wasn't last night. Give me a break. "Another part of the land." There's certainly no more evidence of that eisegesis than that he was taken to Heaven, since you admit that all we have to go on is "šāmayim," the midpoint of wherever he was headed (according to you). Doubt can be cast on any argument. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. I'm afraid the big picture is eluding you.
Can you tell me what the big picture is then....? What do you think I am missing and not discerning spiritually? Please, I would like to know.
The fact that Elijah was still used by God, (even after he willingly gave over his appointment to Elisha as his successor) in another part of the country after his transfer in the whirlwind, shows that Elijah did not die, and was not taken to heaven.....how is that not evidence? How can a dead man write a letter from heaven? I ask you in all honesty....
To whom does 2 Timothy 3:7 apply...only to me? Not you?
And what does Ecclesiastes actually say? What are these "books" that he speaks of? Is it the books of the Bible? I hardly think so.
Psalm 1:2...
"But his delight is in the law of Jehovah,
And he reads His law in an undertone day and night."
I'm glad you're having so much fun pretending you can manipulate my emotions. I'll bet that trick works with a lot of folks.
I am not manipulating anyone's emotions....if yours are being manipulated, then perhaps that is coming from inside yourself?
I am just telling an inconvenient truth that bothers some people who cannot refute what the Bible really says....as opposed to what they think it says....or want it to say. Why is a clarification disturbing? For truth seekers, it should be welcome....No?
No, you're not arrogant... much. At least you add a little humor to attempt to conceal it.
Was Jesus arrogant when he had a truth to tell? Did he tip-toe around people's emotions so as not to upset them? I find that Jesus told it like it was and whoever was offended....well that was their problem.
On one occasion, Jesus said something that was difficult to understand. In response,
“many of his disciples, when they heard this, said: ‘This speech is shocking; who can listen to it?’” Those who spoke in this way clearly had a wrong attitude. And their wrong attitude led to their ceasing to listen to Jesus. The record says:
“Owing to this many of his disciples went off to the things behind and would no longer walk with him.” Did all have a wrong attitude? No. The record continues:
“Therefore Jesus said to the twelve: ‘You do not want to go also, do you?’ Simon Peter answered him: ‘Lord, whom shall we go away to?’” In effect, Peter then answered his own question:
“You have sayings of everlasting life.” (John 6:60, 66-68)
Even though the apostles were also confused by what Jesus said, they waited for an explanation.
So, don't we have to ask ourselves which group of disciples
we would have belonged to? The ones who jumped to immediate conclusions and left...or the ones who stuck around for more clarification?
When I was in Christendom, I stuck around for clarification that never came.....when I studied the Bible instead of church doctrine, I came away with vastly different conclusions to what I had been taught in church. The Bible explained what Christendom couldn't...because they don't have Christ directing them IMO. He promised to be "with" his disciples in this work. (Matthew 28:19-20) It was to be international.
If Jesus told his disciples to go out to the people and preach "the good news of the Kingdom", then why haven't Christendom's churches ever done that. And I don't mean missionaries sent overseas....I mean disciples sent to their neighbors, and professed fellow believers. (Matthew 110:11-15) Each "branch" of Christendom has something different to preach, so why can't they do what Jesus told them to do if they think the other fella has it all wrong? They can't even agree on what the Kingdom actually is, so how can they go to people and teach them something they don't know anything about?
I'm sorry if I came off as arrogant...but I'm an Aussie and we don't beat around the bush or tip-toe around people's feelings...we cut right to the chase and want to tell it like it is. We are often accused of being rude....but its just honesty, not dressed up as something else, just raw truth. Raw things sometimes need chewing.
But many in this world are so busy having the vapors over something they found offensive, that their ears are well and truly shut ...they heard nothing but the offense.
As you can see....I am not easily offended.